Teaching the Design,Leadership, and Evaluation of Structured Groups

Although structured group formats have become increasingly popular, few articles have been written describing the training sequences or strategies for the leaders of these groups. The authors describe a class that used a structured model to teach the design, leadership, and evaluation of structured groups. Thus, the class was designed to be a model structured group experience. Specific segments of the 16 class segments are outlined and described.     

Selection Tests for Firefighters: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis

This study reviewed and summarized the literature on the use of written tests in the selection of firefighters using a sample of 13,418 individuals drawn from 101 samples. For the prediction of job performance, cognitive tests showed substantial validity (.42), although mechanical comprehension tests showed even higher validity (.54). However, the best prediction was obtained by tests which were composites of cognitive and mechanical predictors (.56). Training criteria was best predicted by cognitive measures (.77), although mechanical comprehension predictors also showed substantial prediction value (.62). Tests which were composites of cognitive and mechanical measures showed validities equal to that of cognitive measures (.77).     

Experimental evidence for a minimalist account of English resumptive pronouns.

In this article we provide evidence for a Minimalist account of English-type resumptive pronouns. Our findings provide empirical support for syntactic theories that, like Minimalist accounts, allow for competition among derivations. According to our account, resumptive pronouns are spell-outs of traces. For reasons of economy, the resumptive pronoun surfaces only when the derivation with the trace is precluded by syntactic principles. This account predicts that resumptive pronouns should only improve violations of constraints on representation, and not violations of constraints on movement. We tested this prediction by conducting an acceptability judgment task with 36 native speakers of English. The results bore out our prediction; subjects preferred the resumptive pronoun over the trace in cases where the trace itself was illicit, but not in cases where only the movement operation was illicit.     

Suicide prevention in the genetic counseling context

Utilizing a case report, this paper explores psychosocial aspects of suicidal intent in a woman seeking prenatal diagnosis. Using knowledge and practice of appropriate assessment, referral, and intervention procedures, the therapy team of genetic counselor and psychotherapist facilitated successful identification and management of this potentially suicidal client. The main counseling goals for the genetic counselor are to assess the situation adequately, decrease the immediate danger, and, with supervision and/or consultation, stabilize the seriously suicidal person until that individual can be triaged to mental health or medical professionals for treatment. The prevalence of suicide issues in genetic counseling contexts is unknown and reports mentioning suicidal ideation unusual in the genetic counseling literature. Is this reported case a rarity among genetic counseling referrals? Systematically collected information on the prevalence and resolution of suicidal issues in genetic counseling contexts would be helpful for those setting curricula for genetic counseling training programs, standards for professional certification exams, and policy and procedures manuals for clinical units.     

The Validity of Job Knowledge Measures

The validity of written job knowledge tests as predictors of job performance and training success was examined. Based on a sample of 363,528 persons and 502 coefficients, meta-analyses were performed to investigate the extent of validity generalization and the effects of two hypothesized moderator variables: content similarity and job complexity. Corrected mean validities were 0.45 for studies predicting job performance and 0.47 for studies of training success. Support was found for both moderators since validities were higher for high complexity jobs and when job-test content similarity was high. The implications of this study for personnel selection and research in the area of work performance are discussed.     

The child as informant: Eliciting linguistic intuitions from young children

In this paper we report an interview technique we have developed to elicit judgments from young children about the well-formedness and referential properties of sentences. Judgments are compared with act-out responses of a group of 20 children ranging in age from 3 years 9 months to 5 years 4 months. We argue that judgment data are more revealing of children's grammars than are traditional performance tasks.     

Family-of-origin work and family therapy skills training: both-and.

Since the inception of field, theoreticians and teachers of family therapy have advocated for either problem-solving, skill-based training, or transgenerational training that emphasizes the therapist's own family-of-origin work. This article proposes an end to these polarized positions and argues for both-and, that is, a model of training that integrates the trainee's own family-of-origin work with live supervision and skills training. A family-of-origin curriculum designed for this purpose is described.     

Young Women's Dating Behavior: Why/Why Not Date a Nice Guy?

The purpose of this study was to investigate why some women report a desire to date nice guys but prefer dating jerks. Specifically, young women's dating choices based on their reasons for dating in general and the attractive/unattractive traits that they perceive that a man possesses were explored. Popular texts offer evidence that young women may/may not select nice guys as dating partners because nice guys may/may not be able to provide them with what they want from their dating experiences. Scholarly texts offer evidence that the answer may lie in how the young woman perceives the nice guy—does he possess attractive or unattractive personality traits? The results of the present study suggest that reasons for dating (i.e., not wanting physical contact, wanting stimulating conversation, and wanting an exclusive relationship) and perceived personality traits (i.e., sweet/nice and physically attractive) influence a young woman's desire to date a nice guy, and that perceived personality traits are better predictors of her choice of a man to date than are reasons for dating.